The flag of Chicago is a map of its architectural history. Each of the four red 6-pointed stars stand for a crucial moment in the city’s architectural history: the founding, the destruction, the experimentation, and the celebration. With the inauguration of Chicago Architecture Biennial, the case for the fifth star is especially strong. We propose to make that case – and make the Fifth Star, the star of reflection.
The Fifth Star will represent the Architecture Biannual as the grand event, it will reflect on the place of the City on the edge of the Wide Prairie and the Great Lake. The Fifth Star will also recall the humble beginnings of build form in the Midwest, of the vernacular, the prairie barn (with a six-pointed star painted on it), and consider where architectural practice finds itself now – both on the cutting edge of technology and on the balancing tip of an environmental crisis. The Fifth Star will attempt to make sense of both – by aspiring for the balance of intent, symbolism, performance, usability and opportunity in its architecture and its use.